


Blue

by muse_in_absentia



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Established Relationship, Future Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-14
Updated: 2015-05-14
Packaged: 2018-03-30 13:42:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3938950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/muse_in_absentia/pseuds/muse_in_absentia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes blue is more than just blue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mutuisanimis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mutuisanimis/gifts).



> Un-beta'd. Please feel free to yell at me for any mistakes.
> 
> For the lovely [mutuisanimis](http://archiveofourown.org/users/mutuisanimis) for being such a wonderful person. Oh, and for introducing me to these dorks in the first place.

The clack of keys was not nearly as prevalent as Eric Bittle had been hoping for when he sat down at his new Lenovo, a recent gift from Jack when his ancient Dell had finally stopped turning on all together. He wasn't quite halfway through his latest blog post, but fortunately for his sanity the deadline wasn't for another week. He had just been hoping to use the brief quiet to try and make a little progress

Sun Going Down by The Tea Party was playing softly in the background as he rocked a little in his ergonomic desk chair. Eric had long ago discovered that Jack's music was far less distracting when he was trying to write. At least, when writing was actually happening and not just him watching the slow spiral of light snow drifting past his wide window.

The mechanical whine of the garage door opener signaled the return of Jack and Carly from pee-wee hockey. Slowly leveraging himself out of his seat Eric wandered downstairs into the kitchen to greet them. 

He had barely made it through the doorway when Carly dropped her small duffel bag in the middle of the floor and flung herself into his arms. He tried not to stumble at the weight of a nine year old going at full momentum, but at thirty-eight himself it was a little harder than it used to be.

"Bitty-daddy! Bitty-daddy! I got a goal today!"

Chuckling, Eric kissed the top of her strawberry blonde head. "Good for you, Pumpkin! You really do take after your Papa, don't you?" She beamed up at him, but stepped back out of the hug. Nearly ten was way too old for hugs according to Carly. "If you go get washed up I'll see if there is any peach pie left for my two favorite hockey stars."

She ran for the door, but froze when Jack called out, "And put away your gear, please."

"Aww, do I have to, Papa?"

He just gave her a cross between his coach face and his dad face and her little shoulders sagged, but she picked up her bag and took her half sized stick from his hands. Jack ruffled her hair, but she ducked out of it and skipped out of the room.

"Good practice?" Eric asked, going up on his toes to press a kiss to the corner of Jack's mouth. "Ugh, it must have been, you're still all sweaty." Jack had taken back up coaching the local pee-wee team when he had retired seven years ago, and much to his delight the second she was old enough Carly had asked to go with him. She was the youngest kid on the team, and the fastest, which made both Jack and Eric proud.

Jack laughed and mussed up Eric's hair in much the same way he had just tried to do to their adopted daughter, only with much greater success. "I thought you liked me all sweaty, eh?"

Leaning into the touch Eric marveled slightly at how after nearly eighteen years together something as simple as Jack playing with his hair could still make him melt. "I much prefer the act of getting you all sweaty, darlin'." Eric was still standing close enough to Jack to see the ways his eyes darkened slightly just before he leaned down and kissed Eric soundly, stealing his breath away. Jack's hair was soft and still slightly damp between his fingers as he wrapped himself up in his husband.

"Ewww!" Came a small voice from the doorway.

Both men chuckled as they separated, but only far enough to make Carly stop hiding her face. Jack kept his arm around Eric's waist, snug hip to hip. "Later," he whispered and Eric shivered at the tone of his voice.

"All right, Pumpkin," he grinned, "let's see about some lunch for you and your Papa, huh?"

She stomped a little socked foot and gave Eric her best glare, looking for all the world like she really was biologically Jack's. It made a lump rise in his throat, but he swallowed it down, blinking. "You promised me pie!" Carly declared, crossing her arms.

"Your Bitty-daddy promises everyone pie," Jack laughed, squeezing Eric one last time before letting go and heading over to the kitchen sink to wash up.

"And have I ever not delivered?" Eric asked, arching an eyebrow. Jack didn't answer in favor of splashing some water on his face. Grimacing, Eric handed him a towel before he dripped all over the floor. "And there will be pie now, but lunch first, okay Pumpkin?"

There was a little grumbling and shuffling of feet, but Carly uncrossed her arms. "Ouais," she muttered. Jack positively beamed. He had been trying to teach her French for a couple of years now, and it was only recently that she had started switching between the two unconsciously.

Eric tried not to look like he was watching them too hard as he pulled out the fixings to make a couple of sandwiches. Roast beef for Jack and tomato and mozzarella for Carly. He didn't make himself one, but rather just picked off the plates while he fed the rest of his family. The omelet he had had for breakfast had left him a little more full than he had anticipated, especially when he overslept and missed joining Jack to work it off again. When Jack frowned at Eric's lack of a plate he shrugged. "I don’t like not going on our morning runs," he said by way of explanation. One of the plus sides to being together as long as they had been was that Jack seemed to understand this, because he just nodded and fed Eric a piece of roast beef off his own sandwich.

When everyone was finished eating and Eric had stacked everything in the dishwasher Jack disappeared to take a shower. Carly had run off to her room to play and Eric decided that he might be able to crank out another couple of sections of his blog before he had to start dinner.

He snuck past his daughter's room and peeked in the open door, trying to be as quiet as he could so she wouldn't see him. She was curled up on her bed, feet up on the wall like he kept telling her not to do, reading. Smiling, he tiptoed on past, amazed that this wonderful little girl they had ended up with could be so much both of them, playing hockey and then coming home and playing and reading and wanting to help in the kitchen.

The good mood from lunch carried over and Eric managed to finish his post a full week ahead of schedule. Hitting send on the email to his editor he stood up and stretched, his back popping alarmingly. "Ugh, I'm getting old," he muttered to himself.

A pair of lips pressed themselves against his neck, arms sliding around him, low across his hips. "Talking to yourself again, eh?"

"You'll still love me when I'm old, right?"

Jack dropped his chin to the top of Eric's head, nosing through his hair. "I'll still love you when Carly's old."

"Come help me make dinner?"

"I think you might want to ask our daughter. She's less likely to burn something than I am."

Eric laughed and leaned back briefly before stepping out of Jack's arms. "You cook just fine Mr. Zimmermann, you're just being lazy now."

When they tumbled into the kitchen, still laughing, Carly was already sitting at the table, still with her book. "Can I help Bitty-daddy?"

"Sure, Pumpkin, you want to slice up the veggies for a salad?"

She practically bounced as she pulled the bag of vegetables out of the refrigerator and sat at the cutting board that Jack had pulled out and set on the kitchen table so she could reach. Eric and Jack moved around each other like they were still on the ice together. They didn’t skate together very often anymore, but they had always moved together like it was choreographed, and all those years of sharing a bed had only increased that.

They had roast chicken and candied sweet potato on the table shortly. It took a couple of tries to get Carly to put her book down while she was eating, but Eric wasn't trying all that hard. He would rather have her want to read while she was eating than whining to eat in front of the television all the time.

"So, Pumpkin, I've got to start shopping for your birthday party next weekend. What do you want for food?"

"Blue." She answered promptly.

Jack blinked at her slowly. "Blue?"

"Yup," she said definitively, holding up her book and smiling.

Jack looked at Eric who was smiling and trying really hard to fight it. "What kind of blue food?" he asked, trying to keep a straight face.

Carly frowned, her little face pinching up a she thought about it. "Lindsay is allergic to cheese so we probably shouldn't have pizza, so maybe spaghetti?"

Choking on his water, Jack gave Eric a slightly alarmed look. "You want blue spaghetti?"

"Yes please."

Eric tried very hard not to laugh at the way Jack's eyes scrunched up in confusion. "I think we can manage something. Now why don't you help your Papa pack you up a lunch for school tomorrow while I clean up dinner."

He didn't call her on it when she waited till she thought he couldn't see her to stick her tongue out at him because she also got up and did as she was told.

"If you're a good girl and you go take your bath without complaining you can stay up and read for another half an hour," Jack said once they had bagged up a turkey sandwich, a plastic bag full of carrots and one of the remaining blueberry muffins.

Letting out a happy little squeak she picked up her book and tripped her way up the stairs to run her bath water.

"You're going to spoil her," Eric muttered, but he couldn't reel in his smile.

"Not as much as someone around here, eh? Blue spaghetti.” Jack snorted. “Where does she come up with these ideas?"

Eric shrugged and dried his hands from the dishes before going and sinking down onto their oversized reclining couch. When Jack settled in next to him Eric expected him to pick up the remote and turn on the Falconers game, but instead he slung an arm around Eric and pulled him in against his chest. "You know something," he accused, but his fingers were scrubbing gently through Eric's hair and Eric just sort of went limp against him, not answering right away.

Finally, after he heard the tub drain and Carly stumble off to her bedroom, when the enveloping quiet had settled into his bones and leached all the remaining tension away Eric sighed. "Those were some of my favorite books when I was a kid. Why do you think my mother sent her a full set for her last birthday?"

"Aren't they a bit fantastical?" Jack asked. There was no recrimination in his voice, just curiosity.

Eric shrugged, which shrugged Jack because of the way they were wrapped up in each other. They both chuckled a little. "Well sure, but..."

"But?" Jack prompted when Eric fell silent.

"The entire thing starts because the two main characters are just so damned tired of being bullied and it sort of spirals from there. That was something I could really get behind at that age, you know?" Jack didn't say anything because he really did know, had been to visit the Bittle family when he and Eric were first starting to date and saw firsthand some of what Eric grew up with. Even after all these years it still made him angry, so he just tightened his grip on his husband and let him continue. "From there it was all about learning who you were, who everyone else was, and how words can make magic. Learning how the right words could make something more or less real, could completely change the entire structure of something, so choose them very carefully. I think that on some level that was part of what drove me to start my vlog all those years ago, the desire to change my story by talking about it."

They lapsed into a comfortable silence for a while before Jack finally said, "I guess I can appreciate books that teach the value of finally finding the right words."

_Bitty was curled up on his bed with Señor Bunny, his toes tucked under his blanket as he listened to the party pick up to full swing downstairs. It was supposed to be a celebratory party for winning their first home game, but Bitty wasn’t feeling very victorious. He had two giveaways that only didn’t result in points for Union College because of Chowder’s quick reflexes. He was taking advantage of the quiet to feel sorry for himself before someone came to find him and drag him down to the party where he would have to smile like he meant it. He wasn’t sure he could smile like he meant it._

_The knock on his door came much sooner than he expected. Sighing, he swiped at his eyes and hoped that it was dim enough that no one would see how red his face was. “It’s open,” he called, tucking Señor Bunny back under the covers and out of sight._

_He expected Lardo, already half drunk and wondering where he had hidden the last of the blackberry muffins from breakfast, or possibly Chowder with little worry lines between his eyes, babbling to cover for it and trying to talk Bitty into coming downstairs. The last thing in the world he expected was Jack Zimmermann walking into his room. Later he’ll put down what happened next mostly to shock._

_“Jack! What are you doing here?” He winced at the brief flash of hurt on Jack’s face before the blank wall came back up again. “Not that I don’t want you here or something. You just surprised me, is all.”_

_Jack’s shoulders came down an inch or so and Bitty took that as a success, even if only a minor one. Hesitantly, he patted the bed, tucking his legs up under himself to make room. Jack paused for a long second before closing the door behind himself and coming over to sit gingerly on the edge of the bed._

_“Did you get your pie?” Bitty asked, just to diffuse some of the tension that was suddenly stifling. The whole team took any chance they got to chirp him about his pies, despite how quickly they always disappeared._

_With a shake of his head Jack sank back a little further onto the bed, not sitting quite so rigid. “I didn’t realize you could make a peanut butter and jelly pie.”_

_“Goodness, I know you’re not disparaging my pie making abilities, Mr. Zimmermann. I can make any kind of pie,” Bitty huffed, arching an eyebrow just to see Jack twitch an eyebrow at him. In Jack terms that was as good as a laugh. “Although, and I swear on my Mama’s sweet tea that if you tell anyone this you will never get another pie out of me ever again, it did take me two tries to make that peanut butter crust come out flaky. It just wanted to be so dense.”_

_This time the corners of Jack’s mouth quirked up. “Can’t have dense pie crust, eh?”_

_Bitty smacked him lightly on the shoulder. “Dear Lord, no. If I couldn’t make it to your very first professional game the least I could do was make sure your celebratory pie was perfect, thank you very much.”_

_“It would have been nice to have you there,” Jack said with a shrug that said both that it didn’t matter at all and that it was the only thing that mattered._

_“I tried, darlin’, but did you know there isn’t a bus from Samwell to Providence? I would have had to catch the bus all the way out to Boston and then take a different bus to Providence and that would have been nearly three hours, and I wouldn’t have made it on time without missing practice, and I know you wouldn’t have wanted me to miss practice, so-“_

_“Bittle,” Jack cut him off. “It’s okay. I understand, eh? I just would have enjoyed seeing your face.”_

_Bitty froze trying to make out the expression on Jack’s face. A tentative hand reached out very slowly to card through his hair gently, the slow tug and pull very different than the usual ruffling he was used to. “Jack?” he whispered, leaning into the touch before he could stop himself._

_“I miss seeing your face,” Jack said, eyes shifting to the side as he took a shaky breath that Bitty was close enough to hear._

_Very slowly, Bitty lifted his own hand and settled it over Jack’s where it had come to rest just behind his ear. “You know,” he said very carefully, “I wouldn’t mind if you got to see it more often.”_

_“Yeah?” Jack breathed, blue eyes snapping back to Bitty’s and locking on. Bitty could only nod and watch, tasting his own pulse, as Jack leaned down and very lightly brushed their lips together. With a small whimper Bitty tangled his fingers into Jack’s hair and pulled him in tighter, angling his face and deepening the kiss._

_When they pulled apart, Bitty let out a little puff of a laugh, fingers still trembling as they clutched at Jack’s shirt. “You might have said.”_

_Jack’s smile was blinding. “I just did.”_

“I can see where you might,” Eric said, leaning in to kiss Jack.

*****

Carly was squirming as Eric tried to pull a brush through her flyaway hair. The clips she had picked out to go with her new sweater didn’t want to stay put and she was done with sitting still.

“Hold still, Pumpkin, or I can’t put these in.”

She huffed and gave one last exaggerated wriggle before trying to do as she was told.

“Now remember, when you get out of school today Aunt Larissa and Uncle B. are picking you up and taking you home with them for the night. They promised that they have all sorts of movies and sugar and that they would return you to us tomorrow stuffed full of candy and so hyper we won’t know what to do with you.” He clipped the second barrette into her hair and tickled her sides. “Your Papa is going to have to take you to the rink and let you burn off all the energy.”

She giggled and jumped away, stuffing her feet into her boots and grabbing her backpack. Eric watched her march out the door and stand at the end of the driveway waiting for the school bus. Last year she had asked to ride the bus instead of letting Eric drive her to school anymore, because her best friend Shelby was on the bus and they got to play before they got to school. It was a wrench, losing that alone time in the car together, but he had given in to her pleading eyes and pout. Shortly she was climbing up the steps and settling in at a window seat. Eric pretended he wasn’t watching from the window so as not to embarrass her.

Once Carly was safely on her way to school he trudged into the kitchen and started the coffee pot. The smell of fresh brewed coffee filled the kitchen as he threw some bacon into a pan and mixed up a quick banana pancake batter. Normally on Fridays he made a slightly more elaborate breakfast, treating it as a Saturday alone for him and Jack. Saturdays were always family day, spend at the park, or the zoo or the ice rink, and Fridays while Carly was at school they took the day to themselves. Eric always made sure that he had no writing to do that day, and Jack went without his extra workouts that he still insisted on despite being retired, so that they always had a day to spend together.

This Friday, however, he had a lot of cooking to do. Little girls only turned ten once, after all.

A few minutes later Jack wandered sleepily into the kitchen and dropped a kiss on Eric’s cheek as Eric flipped a pancake.

“Morning, darlin’,” Eric smiled, handing Jack the coffee he had already fixed for him. After he drained half the cup in one long swallow, Jack sank down onto one of the kitchen chairs. “You were tossing something awful last night, Love,” Eric continued, frowning as he plunked a plate down in front of Jack and fished the maple syrup out from the refrigerator.

“I couldn’t slow my brain down,” Jack shrugged, watching Eric as he filled his own plate and sat down next to Jack. Some days they sat across the table, tangling their feet up together while they ate, but on days like this, where Jack looked like his eyes had drooped to his chin and they didn’t talk about the way his hands still shook sometimes, Eric sat close at his side so their shoulders brushed while they ate, their thighs pressed tightly together.

Eric didn’t say anything, just leaned slightly against Jack’s side and waited while they ate. It always happened suddenly, between one bite and the next, something shook loose in Jack’s brain and he would slump against Eric, breathing a little easier. It took a little longer this morning than usual, but eventually he leaned into Eric, slipping an arm around his waist and burying his nose in the side of Eric’s neck.

“Thank you,” he whispered.

“For what?” Eric asked, wrapping his arms around Jack and pulling him in close.

"For always being my safety net. You let me be less afraid because I know you’ll always catch me.”

“Always,” Eric agreed, breathing in the scent of Jack’s hair.

They stayed that way for a long moment before Jack slowly sat up straighter and downed the rest of his coffee. “So, what’s the plan for today?”

“A lot of baking, and any other prep work I can do for tomorrow’s cooking. Sadly, some things just can’t be done ahead of time.”

Jack smirked at him. “You love it, needing to cook for that many people. You would do this for fun, don’t deny it, eh?”

“I could always stop cooking, leave you to fend for yourself,” Eric declared, arching an eyebrow and cocking out a hip like he was still twenty years old. Jack threw back his head a laughed, a full throated laugh that stretched out the line of his neck and made Eric stop and stare. Giving in to desire he surged forward and set his teeth gently to the cord of muscle running down the side of Jack’s neck, tasting him, all clean skin and expensive soap.

Groaning, Jack shivered and tipped his head a little farther, giving Eric better access. “Tease,” he muttered, pulling Eric in tight against him. “Unless we have the time for me to take you up on that.”

Eric whimpered slightly as Jack pressed a kiss to the soft spot behind the edge of his jaw. “I could, gracious, I could put off the baking for a couple of hours.”

Stilling completely for a split second, Jack tangled his fingers in Eric’s hair and kissed him thoroughly. “Now I know you love me,” he chuckled when he pulled back slightly breathless. “You’re willing to put off baking for me.” His tone was light and chirping, but the look of baffled awe in his eyes made Eric tear up a little, much to his mortification. He was still such a sap.

“Always,” he whispered, kissing Jack again before stepping back and clearing the plates off the table.

“You bake, we’ll have plenty of time later, with the house all to ourselves tonight. Do you want some help, or should I just turn on some music for you and clear out, eh?”

Eric laughed. “Why don’t you go wrap that pile of presents you told me you were going to have wrapped two weeks ago so that we really can enjoy the rest of our night together.”

Jack had the decency to look abashed as he wandered off in search of the wrapping supplies.

It was nearly dinner time when Jack finally reappeared in the kitchen. Eric was fairly sure he was just staying out of the way, but he had missed seeing him on their usual day to spend together. He was just pulling the last pie out of the oven when a pair of arms wrapped around his waist.

“Well, at least her pie is blue,” Jack laughed as he stared at the vibrant blue lattice.

“As if I would promise our daughter blue food and not deliver,” Eric huffed, leaning back in Jack’s arms and twining their fingers together at his hip. “The pies are blue, the cupcakes are blue with blue frosting, the pasta dough is blue. It will have to be a lemon butter sauce rather than tomato so that you can see the blue, but I’ll make sure there are fresh cherry tomatoes in it.”

“Any reason for the tomatoes? Your lemon butter sauce is pretty spectacular without them.”

Eric flushed slightly. “Give her another book and she’ll appreciate them,” he muttered.

Jack laughed and tightened his hold on Eric. “I love that you understand the things that make our daughter happy,” he said, pressing a kiss to the side of Eric’s neck.

Wriggling himself around until he was facing Jack, Eric smirked up at him. “Do you, darlin’? Care to show me how much?” He chuckled at the way Jack’s eyes went dark.

*****

The living room was overrun by seventeen children all between the ages of eight and twelve. There were a few parents who had stayed to help chaperone. Eric was in full host mode, and Jack was leaning against the wall just smiling fondly at him.

Shitty came and leaned against the wall next to him, sipping at a blue cocktail that Eric had insisted on having for the adults so as not to ruin the theme of the party. There was Kool-aid and blueberry lemonade for the kids. “You done good, Zimmermann,” he said, grinning and watching where Carly was giggling at something one of the other girls had said.

Jack smiled and shouldered Shitty. “I like to think so, too.”

“What are you two saps talking about?” Larissa asked, tucking herself under Shitty’s chin.

“How spoiled our niece is,” Shitty laughed.

Eric was walking back from the kitchen where he had just deposited a load of plates into the dishwasher to make room on the table for dessert in a few minutes. Jack snagged him around the waist as he tried to walk by. “I think we were talking about how spoiled I am, actually,” he said, dropping a kiss onto the top of Eric’s head.

Both Larissa and Shitty groaned at him, but Eric just smiled brightly.

“Umm, Bits, why is your tongue bright blue?” Larissa asked, frowning.

“Oh, I had to taste test everything didn’t I?” he stammered, flapping a hand in the direction of all the blue food. He probably would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for the way Jack’s face turned bright red.

“Should I ask where else is blue?” Shitty laughed, leering at them.

Just then Carly ran up and tugged on Eric’s hand. “I want cake now, Bitty-daddy!”

“You got it, Pumpkin,” he said, looking slightly relieved.

“Saved by the kid,” Larissa muttered.

“Always,” Jack replied, heading to the kitchen to help his husband make their daughter smile.

**Author's Note:**

> The book series that Carly is reading is Young Wizards by Diane Duane, and they really are fabulous.


End file.
